So we got an induction cooking plate. it’s an AEG 4-zone maxima and it’s amazingly fast. Think micro-wave fast. Cooking a litre of water takes about 90 seconds on full power. And if anything gets spilled from the pot, it stays cold and can be wiped off whilst cooking. It’s also kid-safe because it does not retain heat and it can not be turned on by accident without a metal cooking pot or pan present. In short, I love the way this works.
However, it did come with a small caveat. It turns out that all my tefal pots and pans are made from aluminium which isn’t compatible with induction. So off we went to VanGastel to check out the better cookware department. In short, we decided to go for demeyere since we heard good things about them, my mother-in-law has been using them for years as have some colleagues and we got a very good explanation of the difference and what would work best on induction from the sales staff.
The pan which we wanted (procontrol) was not in stock however, so we ordered it and bought a less expensive alternative (50 euros for greenpan, 250 for demeyere) for the time beeing since we had to have one immediately. The alternative we decided on was the greenpan stockholm. Nearly all my teflon-clad pans had scratches and got deformed within a year of usage. Greenpan uses Thermolon instead of PTFE to form a anti-stick coating. PTFE tends to desintegrate once the temperature goes over 260°C (The blue smoke when cooking oil overheats, that’s the point close to the maximum temperature of PTFE as well) Thermolon can go up to 450°C, which you won’t reach in a normal kitchen (unless it’s completely on fire : ) Thermolon should also be better for your health as PTFE is not exactly safe once there is damage to the structure due to heat or scratches. And it’s incredibly anti-sticky. I can bake pancakes and eggs with it without using butter or oil.
it has been in use for two months now and the coating still looks excellent. We don’t use it in the dishwasher but there are no scratches visible on the coating and it is still very anti-stick. The outside lost some small paint, but that is mostly due to the way in which the pans are put onte on another in our kitchen drawers. I head read of greenpans damaging their coating, but I must say that I am thus far very happy with mine and that it is still in pristine condition. In fact, the demayere pan has arrived, but the greenpan is the one most often used as it is lighter and excellent for those things which would otherwise stick to the bottom of the pan. On the other hand, the demayere procontrol pan is a sturdy piece of kit (hit someone with it and they probably won’t get up again, nor will it be dented) and offers the advantage that once the temperature reaches 230°C on an induction plate, it’ll change it’s magnetic structure so that it will no longer heat up, thus keeping the temperature constant and minimising the power usage. Longevity will probably be the demayeres strong point as well. But for now, my day-to-day cooking is done with a greenpan.